Factors associated with food safety compliance among street food vendors in Can Tho city, Vietnam: implications for intervention activity design and implementation

Background Street food plays a valuable role in several Asian countries including Vietnam. Improving the safety of street food is an important responsibility for many local food authorities. This study aims to characterize the business profile of fixed and mobile street food vendors, and to compare their compliance with the food safety criteria. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire and observational checklist to assess the ten Vietnamese food safety criteria prescribed under Decision No. 3199/2000/QD-BYT for street food vendors in Can Tho city. A total of 400 street food vendors, composed of fixed and mobile vendors, in urban areas of the city were randomly selected for the survey. Results The study showed significant differences between the two types of street food vendors in educational level (p = 0.017); business profile, including types of foods vended, area in use, number of employees, training in food safety, and business registration paperwork; and the status of compliance with the ten-food hygiene and safety criteria (p < 0.01). Poisson regression analysis found that education attainment (IRR = 1.228, p = 0.015), food safety training (IRR = 4.855, p < 0.01), total business capital (IRR = 1.004, p = 0.031) and total area in use (IRR = 1.007, p = 0.001) appeared to be significantly positively associated with food safety and hygiene compliance. In contrast, mobile vending type was negatively associated with the likelihood of adhering to the ten criteria (IRR = 0.547, p = 0.005). Conclusions These findings emphasize the need for training and education programs to improve food safety knowledge and practice among street food vendors. Basic infrastructure and services, especially clean water, proper sanitation, and waste disposal facilities, should be provided to help street food vendors better practice food safety and hygiene regulations.

Investigating Planting Concrete Suitability by Evaluating the Physiological Indexes of Three Ground Cover Plants

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction materials for basic infrastructure worldwide, especially in developing areas undergoing rapid urbanization. However, concrete inhibits energy exchange between soil and other ecosystem components. To enhance the fluxion of information between ecosystems, surface vegetation, and basement soil, this paper aims to explore the tolerance of plants growing on PC. Therefore, we investigated two different PC sample groups with aggregate particle diameters of 5–10 and 15–20 mm. After curing, the samples were used to plant three ground cover plants (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers, Agrostis stolonifera, and Sasa argenteostriatus, e.g., Camus), and the results were compared with those from normal soil without PC underneath as a reference. During an observational period of 12 weeks, the growth and height of the plants were documented and analysed. The physiological indexes of free proline (Pro), malondialdehyde (MDA), chlorophyll (Chl), relative electrical conductivity (REC), and soluble protein (SP) were investigated. The correlations and significant differences between these indexes based on the treatments were analysed. Then, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the main variables affecting plant growth. The results showed that there were significant differences between the PC groups and the natural growth group. The growth and height of the three plant species under near-natural (nonconcrete) conditions were better than those of the plants in the PC treatments. The plants in the large-particle concrete (LC) treatment group showed better adaptability than those in the small-particle concrete (SC) treatment group in terms of growth, although both PC treatments resulted in various degrees of damage. PCA showed that SP, REC, and MDA were the most influential factors on plant growth in this study.

Sustainable Fourth Industrial Revolution

The sustainable revolution constitutes a multiscalar process characterized by gradual interconnection and digitization in economic globalization. This work confronts the discourses derived from this socioeconomic process with the biophysical limits of the planet through the analysis of the material requirements of the basic infrastructure necessary for the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Through the study of the discourses and the current situation of natural resources, 13 metals have been identified whose availability in the next 30 years constitutes the limiting factors for the effective deployment of the technologies of this process. In this situation, the theoretical foundations of future potential are established where techno-optimistic and degrowth discourses coexist through uneven development, making sustainability a characteristic based on exclusivity.

A Study to Assess the Knowledge on Respectful Maternal Care Among the Health Workers Working in Selected Hospital/Health Centers at Meerut

The pregnancy and mother hood is the right of a women. During the time of labour, the women suffer shouting, slapping, pinching, hitting, and also application of extreme fundal pressure which is against human rights. Respectful maternity care (RMC) is a rightful expectation of every woman. Care during this period needs to encompass basic human rights, including the rights to respect, dignity, confidentiality, information and informed consent, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and freedom from discrimination and from all forms of ill-treatment including making abuse to mother in labour including lack of treatment with dignity, delivery by unqualified personnel, lack of privacy, demand for informal payments, and lack of basic infrastructure, hygiene, and sanitation . Objectives 1) To assess the knowledge on respectful maternity care among the health worker. 2) To determine the association between the knowledge on respectful maternity care with the selected demographic variable. Hypothesis H1-There will be significant difference on knowledge about respectful maternity care. H2-There will be significant association between the knowledge and the socio demographic variable. Methodology: A descriptive research design was undertaken for this study. The population of the study consists of health workers at selected hospitals of Meerut. With the sample size of 30 were selected by using non probability convenient sampling. Result: Among 30 Health Workers Sample 15(50%) Were Having Moderate Knowledge ,12(40%) Were Having Adequate Knowledge and Only 03(10%) Were Having Inadequate Knowledge About Respectful Maternity Care. And there was significant association with number of deliveries whereas there is no significant association between age, sex, education, years of experience, area of working and attending any midwifery related training Conclusion: The study concluded that the most of the health workers are having moderate knowledge regarding the respectful maternity care and there was significant association among the students. Keywords: Respectful maternity care, assess, knowledge

Socio-Economic and Political Impact of Pandemics in the African Continent and Regional Mechanisms to Mitigate it

Throughout the history of African societies, pandemics have claimed, in some instances more lives than warfare. Africa is susceptible to many pandemics. Given the state of underdevelopment amongst African nation-states characterised by low levels of education, poor health care facilities, lack of basic infrastructure, poverty, low levels of income, lack of skilled health care workers, and many more factors, it is not sufficiently equipped to handle pandemics that are life-threatening. Hence, it is prone to outbreaks of infectious diseases. Pandemics cause the socio-economic crisis, which in turn affects political stability. In the history of Africa, the Ebola disease, HIV/Aids, Cholera are some of the major diseases that have ravished nation-states in contemporary times. Now, just like other parts of the world, it has to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic that has far-reaching consequences. This article seeks to interrogate the nature and causes of major pandemics in the globe and the African continent and the steps taken to ameliorate these. It further examines the impact of pandemics on the socio-economic and political spheres of life in the continent.

Network infrastructure in the present-day realities

The development of digital technologies, the transformation of the Internet into a “communication medium” leads to the formation of a network society with the large-scale development of network culture and the invasion of network business and network forms of education. Replacement of the face-to-face contact by the network communication, destruction of personal space, openness of personal life, its “inclusion in the network”, simultaneous possibility of anonymity, protection and irresponsibility of users become a reality of modern life. Network systems are becoming the basic infrastructure of modern society.

The Importance of Statebuilding: Additional Contributions from a Military Perspective

Since the early beginning, stability, prosperity and security have been core values for the members of the transatlantic community. Efforts have been made for reconciliation over human lives lost in war, to understand and to solve dramatic changes in societies, to rebuild economies after heavy losses in goods, and to repair and maintain destroyed basic infrastructure; these are still ongoing concerns that present periodical challenges for all participating states. Statebuilding approaches can be described in many theoretical ways, but in practice – based on historical experience – they can be either peaceful or very bloody. In order to realise unknown and extreme factors and to give them adequate answers there is an urgent need for a stable, reliable and effective system.The Hungarian Defence Forces has a long history in peace operations, however, the latest missions conducted, especially in the Balkans and in Afghanistan, provided lots of useful experience related to different statebuilding efforts. In this paper the authors explain the basic general relations between state and the military, in normal – or ideal – circumstances, illustrated – as a comparison – with different elements and factors in statebuilding efforts in case of extreme conditions such as war, failing states or even a hypocritical emergence of state-like entities.

Cereal-Legume Value Chain Analysis: A Case of Smallholder Production in Selected Areas of Malawi

This article analyses the cereal-legume value chain in Malawi through a comprehensive VC Map, a SWOT exercise and a policy analysis. VC participation entails a number of challenges for smallholders. Limited access to land, technology and inputs, inadequate knowledge of market functioning, insufficient access to credit and extension services, combined with more general problems of poor infrastructures, often prevent smallholder farmers from accessing profitable market opportunities. The effectiveness of national policies (e.g., public extension service support, inputs subsidy system) oriented to increase smallholders’ market access is often constrained by inadequate financial capacity, an inefficient public extension services system and limited involvement of privates in the extension services scheme. VC interventions should distinguish between VC-ready farmers, namely those provided with the minimum conditions of external and internal factors, and non-value-chain-ready farmers. Market-based interventions (e.g., enhancing VC coordination) are needed for enhancing market access of value-chain-ready farmers. Conversely, while non-market-based interventions (e.g., investments in basic infrastructure, increasing extension services, credit and inputs access) prove necessary to build the minimum asset thresholds for non-value-chain-ready farmers’ participation in the market. A smallholder-friendly VC development relies on the role played by VC actors and the need to harmonise and improve existing policies to remove inadequacies, conflicts and overlaps in the various institutions charged with implementation.

Identifikasi Keragaman Penyediaan Sarana Prasarana pada Perumahan Peri-Urban Kabupaten Sleman

Title: Diversity Identification of Infrastructure Provision in Peri-Urban Housing Sleman Regency The procurement of housing infrastructure has been regulated through SNI 03-1733-2004. However, in the field, developers have their own considerations and creativity in providing them. The diversity of provision raises the problem of equal public access to infrastructure. This study aims to identify the diversity of housing infrastructure provision in Sleman Regency. The research used deductive-qualitative method. The analysis was carried out through the stages of data grouping, housing type analysis, analysis of infrastructure availability and comparative analysis. The results showed different provision between small-scale and medium-scale housing. Basic infrastructure is the top priority and security infrastructure is the second priority. Variations are found in amenities and health facilities and the least provided are religious and educational facilities.

Handling of The Environmental Drainage System In Jembrana District, Bali Province

The rapid growth of the urban population should be followed by the provision of basic infrastructure and facilities inadequate residential areas. One of them is the facilities and infrastructure for the environmental drainage system in residential areas to be free from standing water, especially during the rainy season. In Jembrana Regency, especially in Negara city and its surroundings, there are fourteen inundation points spread over 3 (three) districts. Drainage treatment is carried out by ranking priority scales based on inundation parameters. The parameters are inundation of height, length, frequency, and also the loss parameters due to inundation of economic facilities, public facilities, transportation facilities, housing, and casualties. With limited funds available, detailed planning is carried out on three inundation points with the highest priority score. The analysis shows that three inundation points receive priority for handling, namely Baler Bale Agung village’s environmental drainage system, Dauh Waru village, and environmental drainage Loloan Timur village. The drainage construction system uses an open channel with a U-ditch type and a box culvert with freecast concrete’s quality value of K-350.